Assignment Beta
by Astris C
Summary: Where things get unpredictable for Sapphire and Steel.
1. Chapter 1

Prologue

[Try to remember, Steel. Please try.]

Steel gazed up at his partner, gasping and moaning slightly. He was lying on his back, his hand in Sapphire's. He looked into her glowing blue eyes, they gave him strength. He felt her squeeze his hand gently. That gave him even more strength.

[I know this may hurt, Steel. But I need you to recall every single event that happened since we came here. Every single one. Remember.]

Steel was too exhausted to even send a telepathic acknowledgement. So he closed his eyes and proceeded with the instruction. He concentrated on the one word that Sapphire mentioned, and let it echo in his mind.

 _Remember_...

Chapter 1

The moment they found themselves standing together, Sapphire and Steel shot each other a puzzled look.

"You're here," Steel said.

"Yes I'm here. But why?"

"We- We normally appear at different places."

"That's right," Sapphire realised. "Surely it couldn't be-"

"A mere coincidence?" he finished.

"No. I shouldn't think so."

They let the matter slip their minds for the moment, and explored their new terrain. They were in a hotel lobby, a huge one, with beautifully carpeted floors, a majestic, sparking chandelier that hung from the ceiling, and elegant classical piano music playing softly in the background.

"Time?"

"Eight thirty-six AM."

"Date?"

"January the nineteenth, present time."

"Good," said Steel, and they headed to the reception counter. Sapphire went through the papers while Steel tried the telephone. He dialed in a number and held the receiver to his ear. All he got was the engaged tone. He walked over to the other side of the counter, tried the other telephone, and received the same result.

"These phones won't call," he muttered, putting down the receiver.

"And these papers aren't broadcasting," Sapphire said as she smoothed the sheets of paper.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, that they have nothing to reveal. They have no history. They haven't been touched."

"Untouched paper? You mean no one has been here before?"

"That's what they suggest," she shrugged.

They left the counter and looked around the lobby. On the right, a grand spiral staircase with red carpeting led to the floors above, and on the left were several elevators. Wordlessly, Sapphire took the former, and Steel, the latter. Steel pushed the "up" button and waited- for what felt like too long. He glanced up at the screens and realised that none of the elevators were moving.

Sapphire ascended the stairs a step at a time, her hand sliding along the handrail. Suddenly everything swayed and she jerked to a stop. She turned around to check behind her. Seeing everything just like how it was again, she continued up the stairs.

Steel stared at all the elevators stubbornly, refusing to believe that none of them worked. To his surprise, he heard the sound of moving elevator doors. The elevator behind him was open and waiting for him. He frowned, then entered it and pushed the button to the second floor.

She opened the first door she saw and stepped into a function room. Stacked chairs filled the room, and the walls were lined with mirrors. Sapphire stared at her own reflection amusedly. Beside it, a vague outline of a shadow started to form. As the blurry image grew more distinct, Sapphire noticed it. Before she could even make anything of it, she heard Steel's mental call.

[Sapphire, come to the lift lobby. Quickly.]

Sapphire arrived there, and found Steel holding an elevator. He nodded towards it.

"Analyse this."

She stepped inside and touched all the buttons and handrails. "Nothing." She now bent down to examine the floor. Steel wanted to ask her to clarify, but knowing she needed time to complete the analysis, he waited.

Finally, she stepped out of the elevator and Steel released the button. "Well?"

"No one has ever used that elevator," she said. "Is there something wrong with it?"

Now it was his turn to say, "Nothing." Sapphire gave him a suspicious smile, and he knew there was no escaping her.

"It felt as if the elevator was _expecting_ me."

"You mean it was conscious?"

"I don't know," he mumbled, pacing around the lobby. "Nothing seems to be used here, is there? I doubt that anyone has ever even _been_ here."

"I saw someone," Sapphire remembered. "Or something."

"What? Where?"

Sapphire brought him to the function room and before the mirror.

"It was here, beside my reflection," she held up her arm to point at the spot."

"An image? Was it real?"

"I couldn't tell. It barely formed before you called me."

"Did anything materialise beside you to form the reflection?"

"No."

"We'll just have to leave it then," Steel said as he started for the door. "And wait for the next time it decides to show itself." Sapphire glanced at the mirror a last time before following him out.

They continued to examine each of the rooms on the second floor, which had nothing strange in them whatsoever. They moved on to the third floor and did the same, but there was still nothing. As Sapphire pulled the door of the last room to a close, she suddenly paused.

[What is it?]

Steel sensed her uneasiness and was by her side at once.

"Someone," she said in a loud whisper. "Someone shouting. She's calling for help."

"Where?"

Sapphire's eyes glowed slightly as she motioned down the corridor. Steel followed her closely, and they found themselves in a children's playroom. It was large and colourful with a wide variety of toys, and even had a miniature playground. Sapphire walked further in and stopped in front of a small table. On it lay a few Rubik's cubes, all unsolved. She raised an arm above the table, and said, "I'm in line with it here."

"Where exactly?"

"I can't pinpoint where it is exactly, but it is here in two-dimensional area."

"So you are uncertain of the floor it is located at."

"Yes."

Sapphire lowered her arm and looked down at the Rubik's cubes on the table. She picked up a three-by-three.

"A Rubik's cube. A toy invented in 1974."

"Is this relevant to that person you were sensing?"

"It could be," she smiled. "You never know."

Steel's eyes shifted nervously.

"There is something about this place that I cannot put my finger on... Though I'm not certain..."

"Are you anxious, Steel?" she said teasingly.

"I can't deny it," he said, adverting his gaze to the toys. His answer genuinely surprised her.

"That is very unlike you," she remarked, now examining the cube in her hand.

"Sapphire," Steel said slowly, "Can you sense anything? Any sort of malevolence? Any sort of negative feelings?"

"No," she replied immediately. She let the cube levitate above her hand and began to solve it telekinetically. The blocks rotated, as of on their own. "I haven't sensed any of that since we came here."

"Time anomalies?"

Sapphire set down the solved Rubik's cube back on the table and concentrated. In a few seconds she replied, "There are none."

"What are we here for then?" Steel said irascibly.

"Wait." Sapphire raised her hand above the table again. "There is no time. Here."

She moved away from the table and nearer to the door. "But there is time here, though it is artificial."

"You mean it has been designed."

"Possibly."

Steel almost sighed. "Don't tell me this is a repeat of the trap!"

"But I sense no malevolence. It can't be the Transient Beings."

Steel headed for the door. "I don't like being kept in the dark. There are still two more floors, I am going to-"

He could not finish, as he was interrupted by a girl's loud scream.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Sapphire immediately knew where it came from, and briskly led Steel to the function room on the second level.

The same blurry image formed on the mirror, and there were sounds of a crying girl.

"Help me! Someone help me!"

Sapphire stretched out her hand slowly and touched the image. It faded white for a brief moment, then transformed into a reflection of a girl. It appeared to be standing directly in front of Sapphire and Steel, but there was no girl with them to form the reflection. She looked about ten years of age, wore a pink and white-striped dress, and was holding a solved Rubik's cube.

"Who are you? Sapphire asked her.

"My name is Natalie," the girl said timidly.

"Natalie, how did you get inside the mirror?"

The girl fumbled with the cube in her hand and looked like she was about to cry again. But she answered, "I was playing in the children's playroom, and I just ended up here."

"Where are you? What can you see?"

The girl looked around her.

"I don't really know. I wasn't able to see anything at first. But now I see the two of you... in a room, with lots of chairs."

"Can you move about?"

The girl shook her head helplessly.

"How long have you been here?"

"Hours, I think. Are you here to rescue me?"

"Yes, we are. But you will have to be patient."

The girl nodded, and Steel and Sapphire turned to each other.

[What is she?]

[I can't be sure. I'm not reading any life signs from her, but that's probably because of whatever that is keeping her in captivity.]

[Trying to conceal her?]

[Possibly.]

[Ask her more questions.]

Sapphire turned back to the girl.

"Tell us what was happening before you were trapped here."

"I was playing with this cube in the playroom. My parents were having lunch with some friends, so they left me there. I was playing by myself, and I managed to solve this for the first time. I was so happy. But suddenly I couldn't see anything and couldn't move anywhere. It's been like this for hours. All I have with me is this cube," the girl looked down at the toy in her hand, which seemed to be bringing her comfort.

A thought suddenly occurred to Steel. He spoke to the girl for the first time, "Were you playing with this cube at the light green table?"

"Yes. I was sitting there. Why?" the girl looked at him in surprise.

[Do you see it?]

[A pattern?]

[Yes.]

[Yes I do.]

Steel headed out of the room. Before following, Sapphire told the girl, "We will be back in moment. If anything happens, just scream."

The girl nodded, and Sapphire gave her a reassuring smile.

Once outside, Steel said to her, "Remember you said something about not being able to pinpoint the exact floor?"

"Yes," she recalled.

"The light green table in the playroom is directly above the spot in front of the mirror in the function room."

Sapphire's eyes widened in realisation.

"Downstairs. I sensed a displacement."

"What kind?"

"A spatial displacement."

"Where?"

"Down on the stairs."

In an instant, they were at the foot of the grand spiral staircase. "Watch me," Sapphire instructed, then began to climb up the stairs slowly. On the ninth step, everything briefly swirled, and quickly returned to normal.

"I see it."

"There is no time on this particular step," said Sapphire.

"And there is no time at the table," Steel added as he ascended the stairs slowly.

"Therefore there is no time near the mirror," said Sapphire.

"And there is no time at this spot on the forth floor," continued Steel.

"Neither is there time at this spot on the fifth floor," said Sapphire. She was only one step above Steel, and their faces merely inches away from touching.

[And whatever time there is...] Steel began.

[It is artificial, ] she finished.

[Time makes no sense here.]

[Nothing makes sense here.]

[And when nothing makes sense...] he let his mental voice trail off as he braced for the contact. But between lips was the ear-piercing scream of the girl. Steel trampled up the stairs to the function room and towards the sound. But what he saw when he opened the door was not what he expected.

The floor was covered with rag dolls, _living_ rag dolls, all moving towards him.

" _The weak become one of us_ ," they chorused in unison. The dolls began to climb onto him, and the more he tried to brush them off, the more covered with them he became. He felt himself being engulfed by them, and at the last second, he sent out a mental cry for help.

On the stairs, Sapphire sensed her partner's predicament and concentrated hard. The dolls fell from Steel's body, and he found himself exiting the room backwards. Before he even knew it, he was back on the stairs, his face inches away from Sapphire's again. Once her eyes stopped their eerie glow, Steel collapsed onto the steps.

"That was an illusion," she said, sitting down on the steps next to him. "Albeit a fatal one."

"Why were those dolls trying to kill me if you sense no malevolence?" Steel huffed. At her silence, he continued, "And what have they got to do with anything?"

"There must be some sort of entity trying to trick us," Sapphire surmised. "I told the girl to scream if anything happened. The entity must have heard me and made use of that to trick you, though we can't know why."

Steel was promptly on his feet again. "But why dolls? And why Rubik's cubes?"

Sapphire also stood up, and smiled. "I'm not sure about the dolls." She took his hand and they faded.

Once they rematerialized in the playroom, Sapphire picked up the Rubik's cube that she had solved.

"Four point two seconds."

"What?"

"I solved this in four point two seconds. The world record is four point seven four." She handed the cube to Steel, then continued, "This might be the trigger."

"This cube?" he said, confused.

"Yes." Sapphire picked up another cube from the table. "Natalie was playing with hers here and solved it before being captured by the entity. _I_ solved it here before the both of us first heard Natalie crying for help."

"So whatever's in that... that _column_ , is sensitive to the cube."

"Yes."

Steel put down the toy. "But it _can't_ be the trigger."

Sapphire stared at him. "Why not?"

"Because," Steel explained, "Triggers are for causing breakthroughs in Time. And _you_ haven't sensed anything of that sort, have you?"

"Steel."

Sapphire was now looking at him with a rare degree of seriousness in her expression. "This is _not_ related to Time anymore. Not exactly."

"Elaborate."

"Like what you said, I sense no malevolence. No negative feelings. Something is wrong, Steel. This assignment is wrong. This is beyond our level."

Steel's expression now mirrored that of his partner's. "So we shouldn't be here."

"No." Sapphire sat down on a small stool that came with the small table. "This place has been designed. That was what you said."

"Yes. And Time makes no sense here," Steel recalled. "That was what _you_ said."

"Yes."

Steel sat down on a stool next to her and made a fist on the table. "And this entity, it is capable of knowing us, it expects us, it tried to trick us, and yet it is not malevolent."

Sapphire covered his fist with her hand. She reached the same conclusion. "So why are we here?"

For a while, the two operators sat together in silence, slowly taking in the facts and embracing their own confusion.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Sapphire waited in the function room with Natalie. Earlier on, she and Steel had decided to treat this like a regular assignment, and their priority now was to save the girl. Steel had come up with a radical idea to do just that, and she was now waiting by the mirror to see if it worked.

"So what is your friend going to do?" asked Natalie.

"He's finding a way to release you from your prison."

"But how?"

Sapphire smiled at the innocent girl. "He's going to solve Rubik's cubes."

Natalie's eyes widened and she looked at the cube in her hands.

"But still, how?"

Sapphire decided to change the subject. "Tell me about your holiday so far, Natalie."

Meanwhile, Steel was on the fifth floor, carrying five Rubik's cubes in his arms. He positioned himself in a spot in a hotel room, where the supposed "column" was located. He held out a cube and let it hover above his palm. The blocks shuffled rapidly into place within three seconds. Steel raised an eyebrow. _Beat the world record? I beat Sapphire,_ he thought. He placed the finished cube on the carpet to mark out the column, and proceeded to do the same with the rest of the floors.

Soon, he came into the function room where Sapphire and Natalie were waiting, with two cubes left in his hands. He positioned himself in front of Natalie and telekinetically solved one of them. Natalie witnessed it and was still in awe after he had put down the cube and left for the first floor.

"Is he a performer?" she marvelled.

"No," Sapphire replied with silent laughter. "But he very well could be."

As Steel completed the last cube and placed it on the ninth step of the spiral staircase, Natalie let out a sudden gasp. The part of the mirror where her reflection was at began to glow a blinding white.

"Help me!" she cried faintly before fading out into the whiteness. Sapphire touched the mirror, trying desperately to bring her back.

Having finished the task, Steel re-entered the room. "It didn't work, did it?" he remarked at Sapphire's futile attempts at the mirror. She shook her head and finally gave up. "I can't locate her. It was like being pulled out of a-"

The strange white light reappeared in the room before them. A figure began to take form in its place, and it turned out to be Natalie. Once the materialization was complete, the light disappeared. Natalie glanced around her and exclaimed, "It worked! You rescued me!"

"But we're hardly finished here," Steel said peevishly. He now addressed the girl, "Tell me what the people in this hotel were doing before you got captured."

Natalie looked lost. "They were doing what people in hotels do."

"Was there anything strange happening? Anything that could have led to this- this mess?"

Natalie began to stutter, so Sapphire placed a hand on her shoulder. "Steel, how could she know?" she said gently. "She was playing. Alone. In the playroom."

"Where were all the other children?"

"They were having lunch, perhaps," Natalie said softly.

"Why were _you_ not having lunch?"

"Well... Because I wasn't hungry."

Sapphire cast him a look of amusement, which he ignored. He had already started out into the corridor. She called after him, [Steel, where are you going?]

Steel walked back to the doorway. "Downstairs."

"We haven't even planned our next course of action yet," she said.

"Very well," Steel said half-casually, "Our next course of action will be to meddle with things! Poke around! After all, too little is happening here. Far too little. And we have next to no useful information about anything around here."

"They seem to like dimensions," Natalie piped up.

Steel's eyes lit up. "What did you say?"

"Dimensions. Whatever did this to the hotel seems to like them. Rubik's cubes. Different floors. Traps inside mirrors. They seem to know places that we don't."

"And Time," Sapphire realised. "They seem to know _Time_." Her eyes met with Steel's in common understanding.

[It's Them, Sapphire.]

[Yes.]

[They're testing us. They've placed us in an impossible assignment to see how we cope.]

Sapphire's eyes twinkled. [I wouldn't say _impossible_.]

Steel was confused. Was she trying to be optimistic?

"Sorry, but what are your names?" Natalie asked. They stared at her, and she thought she might have just interrupted something. "I mean, you haven't... you haven't yet introduced yourselves."

Steel almost smiled- _almost_ \- and answered as he exited the room, "Sapphire and Steel."

Natalie watched as he disappeared, then turned to the other operator. "Okay, but... who's who?"

Sapphire laughed again in her silent way, and replied, "Isn't it obvious?" before following Steel out of the room.

Natalie hurried after them and to the lift lobby. "I mean... we shouldn't make assumptions about people's names just from their appearances," she justified herself. But Sapphire and Steel weren't listening. The woman was staring straight ahead into nothing, her arms folded, while the man was glaring at the elevators.

"They've stopped working again," Steel gruffed as he hammered the elevator button with his finger.

"They're slow," Natalie stated.

"No, they have _stopped_ _working_ ," he repeated, then gave up waiting and made for the stairs.

But there were no stairs. What used to be the top of the stairs to the first floor, was now a wall that looked like the rest of the walls.

"Now what is this?" Steel barely managed to suppress his anger.

"The entity has barricaded the first floor. We won't be able to get to the hotel lobby," said Sapphire.

"We're going to be trapped again?" Natalie asked worriedly.

"I won't allow that," Steel assured her and turned around. "Perhaps the third floor-"

He was stopped short by an army of rag dolls, all around the floor, surrounding them.

[An illusion?]

[No. They're real, this time.]

The dolls appeared by the hundreds, wearing torn rag clothes, with stitched-on smiles and a sinister gleam in their button eyes. " _Only you, Steel..._ " they chorused. " _Only you..."_

[Go, Sapphire!] he pulsed urgently. [Take Natalie. Get away from here.]

The sea of dolls parted, creating a narrow path for them. Without delay, Sapphire took Natalie's hand and they ran down the path to the stairs. Steel was alone now with a score to settle. Loudly he demanded, "What do you want?"

" _The weak become one of us_ ," they repeated, and began to climb all over him again. This time, he felt a stinging, burning sensation on his body, like fire sizzling upon his skin.

"You've got to be a be a bit more specific!" he said through gritted teeth as he tried to fight off the confounded toys. The pain only worsened. His partner could not help him now, he had clearly told her to stay out of the way.

On the spur of the moment, he dropped his core temperature, and it plunged down to absolute zero. How could he forget? Not only were the dolls on his body frozen, but also the ones surrounding him, as they were all in contact with each other. Before long, all of them flopped to the ground and faded away.

The next to fall down was Steel. His freezing ability was powerful, as well as it was a double-edged sword. Before he could even come to terms with his physical condition, he heard a mental distress call from his partner. He didn't have to think twice, and he was up on his feet again, racing up the stairs as fast as his body would allow him.

He found Sapphire and Natalie in the fifth floor corridor, struggling on the carpet with dozens of rag dolls. This is the dolls' way of revenge, he presumed. He rushed over to Sapphire's side immediately, and channeling all of his anger into his powers, he froze all the dolls on and around her body. But he did not stop there. He got so carried away with venting his frustration on the dolls that he didn't realise they were already defenceless. He was oblivious, even, to Sapphire mentally crying, [Steel, that's enough! You're hurting me!]

It was only when he felt the excruciating pain from the rip in their mental link that he came to his senses. There lay his beautiful partner, frozen and lifeless on the floor.

He, too, knelt there immobilised for a while, both from the overuse of his freezing powers, and from the shock of what he had done. His partner had called for help, and he had killed her, all because of his lack of self-control.

Natalie's deafening screams woke him from his stupor, and he remembered that duty must come before grief. He used his powers a final time on the the dolls on Natalie's body. Before dying out, the dolls sent him a going-away message,

" _Are you weak, Steel?_ "

He knew better than to be provoked by the statement, not at the moment at least, and he ceased his powers once the dolls were frozen over. Eventually they disappeared for good, and that was the last of the dreaded dolls.

Natalie picked herself up from the carpet, traumatised and panting heavily.

"Steel?"

Steel looked up at her helplessly. [Go- go home... Go away... from here...] he pulsed as his vocal cords were badly frozen.

Natalie hesitated, staring down at the two motionless operators who had saved her life.

[Please go, Natalie...]

Finally she obeyed. After a last look of concern at the two, she was gone.

Steel crawled over to the spot where the frozen Sapphire had been lying. At first, he couldn't believe his eyes. So he looked again, but it only confirmed the sight.

There on the carpet was a little rag doll with golden yellow hair, a blue dress, and blue button eyes.

Steel reached out a quivering hand to touch the doll, but before he could complete the movement, everything went black.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

 _Continues from prologue..._

Sapphire trembled with the effort of reviving Steel's mind and relinking it with hers. His memories and emotions flooded her, and she could feel what he had felt- the grief, anger and fear- of losing her. She never knew that Steel felt so deeply, to think that she knew him well! After several long, painful moments, his memory was fully restored. Sapphire's irises returned to their customary colour, and both operators were now exhausted from their arduous mental work.

In gratitude, Steel pulled the back of Sapphire's hand to his lips, then said, "I thought you were dead."

"I thought I was dead too," she admitted.

"Then what happened? How long has it been?" He sat up with a sudden effort, which received a look of concern from his partner.

"It's been six hours, barely enough time for you to thaw out completely."

"Lead... Lead can help!"

"I tried summoning him," she shook her head. "It's no good."

"You mean They won't let us?"

"No." she said grimly. "We are on our own."

Steel's face fell. "Tell me what happened."

"You need rest," said Sapphire.

"I said tell me what happened."

"Alright," she sighed. "But first let's find you a bed."

He did not object, so Sapphire led him into a hotel room. In it was a nice, large bed, but Steel insisted, "I'll take the chair, thank you," and stiffly seated himself down on an armchair. Sapphire found some blankets from the cupboard and wrapped them around him before massaging him. Finally she began, "You overexerted your powers, which seriously harmed your body and caused your mind to shut itself down in self-preservation. I have seen your memories while reactivating your mind, and have honestly no idea how I'm still here."

Self-preservation sounded like a better reason for fainting than the sight of Sapphire as a rag doll, so he did not correct her.

"So it is impossible that you are still alive."

"Yes."

"And yet you are here, aren't you?"

"Mm hmm."

If miracles were real, he had to thank his lucky stars.

"And what about Natalie? Have you seen her?"

"She's left. You told her to leave, didn't you?"

"Yes, but it's impossible, isn't it?"

"What is?"

"Leaving. You said there was a barrier."

"Yes I did."

"So it is physically impossible to leave this place."

"For a human."

Steel turned around in his chair to face Sapphire. "Are you saying..."

"She's not human, no." Sapphire continued to massage his shoulders. "I spot-analysed her while we were running from the dolls."

"Well what is she then?"

"I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"I couldn't tell, but she seemed to be a part of this place."

"Also designed?"

"Maybe."

After she had finished the massage routine she sat down on the bed for a rest. Neither of them spoke for a while, though she knew very well that Steel wasn't resting. Not his mind, at least. She could almost see the clockwork in his head, generating new thoughts and ideas, forming some sort of plan. How long they sat there like this- she with her legs tucked in on the bed and he covered in blankets on the armchair, she didn't know. But it was long enough for them to rearrange their thoughts and get _some_ _sort_ of rest. Steel stood up, unwrapped himself from the blankets and hung them on the chair.

"This test of sorts," he said gruffly. "It needs to end. I need to know what it wants."

"It?"

"Didn't you say there is some sort of entity here? Tricking us? Attacking us? I need to know its purpose." He now stood in front of Sapphire and looked her in the eye. "In order for us to know _our_ purpose."

"How do you intend to do that?"

Steel turned away. "You are capable of... communicating with entities, aren't you? _Negotiating_ with them. Even with entities like the Darkness."

Sapphire realised the big favour that he was asking her. She quickly countered, "That was different."

"How different?"

She stood up angrily. "That time I knew what we were up against!"

"And now?"

"Now we don't even know who- or what- this entity is!"

"So it's about time we found out."

Steel held her shoulders and seated her back down on the bed. Sapphire glared at him with sheer disapproval.

"It's the only way," he said, and decided to pull out the magic word. "Please?"

Sapphire released her glare and said reluctantly, "All right." She sat up straight, lifted her head, and closed her eyes. In a few seconds she opened them again and asked, "What exactly are we negotiating?"

"What it wants. I just want to know what it _wants_ ," he replied firmly. Sapphire nodded and closed her eyes again. Steel patiently waited for her, and saw her frown.

"It's there, though it's not communicating," she said softly. "But it's there."

"Get it to communicate."

"It won't, Steel."

"Tell it that you want to help it. Say the magic word. I just want it talking."

"I told you, it won't-"

"Try, Sapphire. _Try_."

Sapphire made a slight scowl and tried again. Steel watched closely in anticipation. A full minute later, Sapphire's whole body started to tremble violently. She fell off the bed and onto the floor. Steel held his shaking partner and called to her worriedly, "Sapphire?"

[Steel!] came her mental voice, [Be prepared, Steel! It's going to take full control over my body, I won't be able to help you!]

Sapphire's body stopped shaking, and Steel slowly let go of her. He watched as she picked herself up from the floor and stand up straight, motionless.

"Sapphire?" he tried.

The entity opened her eyes, which had no irises or pupils, leaving just her bare white scleras. It said in Sapphire's voice, but in a tone that was very uncharacteristic of her,

"I am not Sapphire."

Steel stared open-mouthed at the entity that had just taken over his partner's body. He began, "What are you?"

"Irrelevant," it said, "You called for me. State your reasons."

He thought for a moment, then said carefully, "I want to know who you are and what you want."

"What I am is irrelevant," it repeated. "And you don't need to know what I want."

"Oh, but I do," Steel insisted. "Tell us."

"There is no _us_ ," The entity remarked. "There is only _you_."

Steel almost shivered. Those words sounded awfully familiar.

"Fine. Tell me," he demanded.

"There is no reason why I should," it said stubbornly.

"Tell me, or you will never get what you want," Steel said firmly. "From the way you have been holding us hostage, and tormenting us, it seems that we are the only ones who can give it to you."

"There is no _us_!" the entity shouted.

"So what do you want from _me_?" Steel matched the volume of Sapphire's voice.

"There is no need for you to know that to get me what I want."

Steel was growing tired of this and he sat down on the spot of the bed where Sapphire had been sitting.

"Tell me, and you can get what you want a _way_ lot faster."

"There is no need for me to get it faster," the entity said simply.

Steel exclaimed in frustration, "Then I bet there's no need for you to get it at all!"

Suddenly, a sinister thought popped into his mind. A genius and sinister thought. A wonderful genius sinister thought that was bound to work. Steel's lip curled.

"If you're not going to tell me," Steel began, "I could always _pull the plug."_

"Be more specific."

Steel looked straight into the entity's hideous eyes. "If I don't know what you want, I won't be able to give it to you, and you will keep me in this miserable hotel. Forever. But I can put an end to that."

He smiled.

"I can always shut down my mind and cease to exist. I'll be free from your captivity. And believe me, Sapphire will do the same. That way, you will _never ever_ get what you want. What do you call it? Ah, yes. _Elemental suicide_."

There was a moment's pause while the entity considered the threat. Finally it replied,

"I cannot decide."

Steel almost laughed aloud. "You had better decide quickly. I'm getting bored here."

Another moment's pause, and Steel started to think that the entity was less scary than he had perceived.

"I'd like to... get to know you better."

"Explain," it said stiffly.

"Well, from what I know now," Steel said in his mocking tone, "You are stubborn, indecisive..."

"There is no need to insult me."

"...easily provoked," Steel added. "You also have a strange fondness for dimensions... Dimensions and _toys_..." Steel stood up and faced the entity, who stared at him fiercely.

"Tell me, do you like to play games?"

"Games?"

"Yes, games. A recreational activity with winners and losers. And rules."

"I like games," the entity stated.

"Oh, good," Steel raised his eyebrows. "That's good. Since you cannot decide what to do, we'll let a game decide it for you."

"I will choose the game," said the entity.

"What game?" Steel said quickly.

Without a word, the entity exited the room in Sapphire's body and exerted an invisible force that violently pulled Steel along with it. Now _this_ was going in a direction he wasn't expecting.

They descended the spiral staircase to the third floor and arrived at the playroom. The entity demanded him, "I want a board game."

"Which boardgame?"

He shouldn't have asked. It replied,

"Snakes and Ladders."

Steel had never heard of the game. "Why this specific game?"

"Irrelevant," said the entity. "Find the game." The force pushed Steel to the cardboard boxes in the room and he stumbled to the floor next to them. Hastily he searched through the boxes and found the game with the title. On the cover were colourful pictures of ladders and cartoonish serpents.

"This?"

"Yes. We shall start the game."

Steel set the game on the light green table and read the instruction sheet. Frowning, he said, "I know why you chose this game. It's a brainless dice game, a game of chance. So that you can rig the dice and _cheat_."

"I will not cheat."

"Oh, really?" Steel said disbelievingly.

"I desire none of the outcomes," the entity said. "Win or lose does not matter to me. The purpose of this game is to help me decide."

"Very well," he said, but his suspicion lingered. He chose his piece and described the terms of the game, "If I win, you will tell me what I want to know. If you win, you will get to keep that information and risk Sapphire and I shutting ourselves down. Agreed?"

"No good. You are playing in your favour."

Steel spotted a fatal flaw in its reasoning. "You said you desired none of the outcomes."

The entity thought for a moment.

"Agreed."

Steel glared at it, then started the game by rolling a six. He, of course, was using telekinesis on the dice to avoid all of the snakes and go for the ladders. After all, _he_ had not promised to play fair. Though he was not sure if the entity had kept to its word. It had miraculously avoided all the snakes as he did, and was soon on the last row of the board with him.

All Steel needed was a five and he would win the game, so the next time he rolled the dice, he focused on making it land on just that. But to his surprise, it landed on _four_. The entity had overrided his power. It proceeded by rolling a six and won the game.

"I have won. I will not tell you what I want," it declared.

Steel knew it was no use lecturing the entity on cheating, so he said firmly, "Return Sapphire."

"There is no reason why I should do that," it simply said. "I like having a body."

He was now in a desperate situation. An _impossible_ situation. There was no way out of it. What had They been thinking? Just to try his luck, he sent out a mental distress call to all one hundred and twenty-six of his fellow operators, investigators and specialists- yes, even the transuranics- and one last call to Them. He then rapidly lowered the temperature of his core, intending to permanently damage his brain. He thought briefly of Sapphire and what she would think of his decision, then braced himself for the end.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

He stood in an empty, white space. It felt like a floating sensation, and yet he could still feel gravity. All was clear, plain white, and there was absolutely nothing around him.

Nothing except Sapphire.

He was overjoyed to see her, and he was sure of her, because she had her beautiful blue eyes again.

"Where are we, Steel?" she looked just as confused as he was.

"Could this be what afterlife is like?" he guessed. "But it can't be possible. At least not for us."

"I can't sense anything about this place. No location, no history. Nothing."

"What about _our_ place in time?"

"The present as we know it," she affirmed. They stood there staring into the emptiness of the white space, when a strange fuzzy image started to appear in front of them. The outlines grew more clearly defined, and the image materialised into the form of a human girl.

It was Natalie.

"Hello Sapphire and Steel," she greeted cheerfully, "We are pleased to inform you that you have passed the test."

The two operators looked at each other.

"This empty space where we are now used to be the hotel you have been assigned to. We created it to test you with some of your greatest fears, which you have bravely faced in one way or another. You have proven yourselves capable of handling irregularities in more than four dimensions. We are proud to deliver the news that your pairing has been renewed and upgraded. Be prepared for assignments of greater difficulty, as well as more tests like these in the future. A good day to you."

With that, Natalie smiled, waved, and disappeared.

Sapphire and Steel looked into each other's eyes with new found understanding.

"You never told me, Steel," she said affectionately, placing an arm on his shoulder.

"Never told what?"

"That your greatest fear is losing me."

Steel tried to hide his embarrassment. "That's just one of them," he said softly. His face bore no expression, but Sapphire had seen- and could now see- past that cold facade.

"And why do you fear that?" she attempted.

"Because..." He wasn't sure of what to say, and what not to. "You are an exceptional partner."

"To work with on assignments?" she said, trying not to show her disappointment.

"Yes."

He saw her eyes lower, so he added,

"And more."

Sapphire looked up at him again. She could feel her heart rate quickening. She waited for him to elaborate on the point, but he didn't. Instead, he changed the subject,

"I haven't seen you being tested on _your_ fears."

"I have been, on more than one occasion," she said gently. "It's just that you don't know about my fears."

"It would be... good to know them," Steel requested. "For future assignments."

Sapphire silently laughed. "I can tell you one of them." Her other arm held his other shoulder.

"You fear for me is being reciprocated."

The corners of Steel's lips slightly rose. He returned her embrace, and together they faded away.

THE END


End file.
